The only issue I have is that BlackMagic is one of the few manufacturers that have not even responded in their own forums. That I find weird. I'm planning on ordering one within the next week, but after seeing all these posts about delays without any input from BM at all gives me a little concern.

Even just a "Hey, we're working on getting the orders filled but there has been such a high demand that we just can't keep up" would be better than crickets..

My Canadian vendor has just sent an email advising those on the wait list that they “have started receiving small quantities” of the BMPCC4K. No ETA offered, but of course when one’s turn comes up, one will receive an advice.

We would be grateful for the official information about the delivery status of BMPCC4K. Preorders from April 2018 are still waiting in line in Poland. Some of us have sold other cameras like Lumix and are unable to plan anything while waiting so long for the equipment and there is no estimated delivery time (resellers say that maybe at the end of the 1 quarter or 2 quarter). I'm sorry to say that, but the whole situation makes Blackmagic look untrustworthy.

Just called 3D Broadcast here in the UK and they still have had 0 units sent to them this calendar year, and according to the rep BM has admitted an issue to do with the battery though he may have just been speculating

It is getting rather frustrating. I've been hoping to be placing an order for a second Pocket 4K around now, but instead I've been in pre-order mode since mid November, and second in the queue since early December.

I actually want to look at buying 2 more, so I can do a 3 camera setup for 2 person corporate shoots. I realize other cameras could do this, but I want to record in BRAW soon and have all 3 identical so it is just a much easier streamlined process. Would love it if they would ramp up the production already. A few months back there was talk that by Jan or so they should be in full swing ramping up production. Doesnt seem like its anywhere near ready and that in a year from now we will be reading about the disasterous launch of the BMPCC4K due to production delays. It is unfortunate because I love this camera, it is just so freaking awesome finally having a camera of this caliber, and I feel for all those still waiting, as well as those of us that finally have ours, how good it is and how much we want more.

Justin Jackson wrote:I actually want to look at buying 2 more, so I can do a 3 camera setup for 2 person corporate shoots. I realize other cameras could do this, but I want to record in BRAW soon and have all 3 identical so it is just a much easier streamlined process. Would love it if they would ramp up the production already. A few months back there was talk that by Jan or so they should be in full swing ramping up production. Doesnt seem like its anywhere near ready and that in a year from now we will be reading about the disasterous launch of the BMPCC4K due to production delays. It is unfortunate because I love this camera, it is just so freaking awesome finally having a camera of this caliber, and I feel for all those still waiting, as well as those of us that finally have ours, how good it is and how much we want more.

Thats the reason I pre-ordered my two units, to match them to my UMP for 3 camera setup 2 person interviews in BRAW

Nice. I assume you had Ursa Mini for other purpose, or do you use it solely for interviews? I ask because I would think given the price and quality, using 3 BMPCC4K would be better suited than the Ursa Mini + 2 BMPCC4K. I am a long way off from being able to afford all this sort of setup. Not only 2 more cameras, but ideally 3 identical lenses (or 2, and a different one for the straight on camera?). Still need some sort of lighting setup (heard the Arri Sky Panels are good..but at 5K a pop.. woa), and good lav mics and a better boom mic. Why cant money grow on trees!

I love that we can put a two camera kit into a single bag.After 4 months and a lot of projects - this is, hands down, the best small camera we've ever used.And, for once, small doesn't equal compromise. I'd have no problem using the P4K for any level work.

FYI my 2 cents. I'm in Australia (home of Blackmagic as you know) I've had my preorder since october with Dragon Image and I was position 6 then and I'm still position 6. They say they have received no cameras and thats coming up to 5 months.

We dont have that many camera providers in Australia but why the F#@% do I keep reading here in these 5 months guys placing orders and in some cases getting their camera a week later.

Australia doesnt make a lot of stuff. So is it too much to ask that in this tiny industry that the one camera manufacturer we are proud to call Australian actually support Australians???? The Japanese get first orders with their manufacturers whatever the industry. I'm sure Red would give preference to U.S. orders etc.

I feel like we are last on the list. Like they dont want to be seen giving preferential treatment. Not even getting even treatment.

Its not like there are many of us over here. I'm just suggesting for every 10 that go to U.S. perhaps 11 could come here. Or something like that.

Or alternately fill the orders of professionals first. How many BMPCC4K's are gathering dust on shelves?

Sorry just venting but we just about 4 or 5 retailers and being position 6 unmoved after 5 months is bull%@#t.

Colourberry wrote:FYI my 2 cents. I'm in Australia (home of Blackmagic as you know) I've had my preorder since october with Dragon Image and I was position 6 then and I'm still position 6. They say they have received no cameras and thats coming up to 5 months.

We dont have that many camera providers in Australia but why the F#@% do I keep reading here in these 5 months guys placing orders and in some cases getting their camera a week later.

Australia doesnt make a lot of stuff. So is it too much to ask that in this tiny industry that the one camera manufacturer we are proud to call Australian actually support Australians???? The Japanese get first orders with their manufacturers whatever the industry. I'm sure Red would give preference to U.S. orders etc.

I feel like we are last on the list. Like they dont want to be seen giving preferential treatment. Not even getting even treatment.

Its not like there are many of us over here. I'm just suggesting for every 10 that go to U.S. perhaps 11 could come here. Or something like that.

Or alternately fill the orders of professionals first. How many BMPCC4K's are gathering dust on shelves?

Sorry just venting but we just about 4 or 5 retailers and being position 6 unmoved after 5 months is bull%@#t.

Cheers,

Simoncolourberry.com

blackmagic doesn't sell any of their prodcuts they give it to their resellers and they sell them. And I called black magic for my reseller and asked them when are they getting their shipment and they kept saying first come first serve. But I ended up getting mines two months later. they kept saying they will receive their shipments any day now, so i just jumped on it lol. I'm guessing if the reseller order last they will get it last. Also, depends on if you bought it from a reseller that has a lot of pre-orders. But since you're six in line they must have ordered late, idk.

It does not matter when you ordered the camera, it is when the reseller places their order to the wholesale distributor, who in turn paces their order with BM that determines the delivery schedule. Cheers

I have no issues with my BMPCC4K. Neither have quite a few other people, other than the known short battery life and the issues with some Samsung SSD.The supposed halt in production due to multiple issues is a rumour only.

We know there has been a hault in production and we know its from an issue right? It makes sense.

I'm optimistic generally but I doubt a halt is due to upscaling production.

To me the battery is a non issue. Want portability stick Canon batteries in. Takes 10 seconds. Want power rig a vmount. Vmount = happiness. That way power your Ninja V and audio recorder etc at the same time. There's a lot to be said for only having to change one battery for all devices at the same time.

Colourberry wrote:We know there has been a hault in production and we know its from an issue right?

Do we? Did I miss it?I read a couple of rumour threads based on dealers whispering. That's not a fact or an official announcement.Also, I see a lot of people using their 4K, with numerous people posting glorious videos on Youtube and the like.Is it therefore a common fact there are a lot of faulty BMPCC4K and that 'post suspension models will be better cameras'.Seems like you are doing a lot of guesswork.Funny that you combined saying $2400 was reasonable for the current camera, then claimed it wouldn't be as good as a 'revised' one

I said the price was reasonable considering the demand and 3-4 month wait time.

As for a hault many suppliers have told people with preorders there is a sudden delay that's different to demand. I have been on preorder since October and was told based on the dealers rate of flow in December I was meant to have mine early January. The other day they told me its now going to be April. So why did their rate of deliveries change??

I can see any dealer, wanting some income and not wanting BMPCC4K customers to drift away, telling them there is a suspension and suggesting an alternative - like the GH5s.They actually make more money that way and they make a sale in February 2019, rather than May/June.

Chris Whitten wrote:I can see any dealer, wanting some income and not wanting BMPCC4K customers to drift away, telling them there is a suspension and suggesting an alternative - like the GH5s.They actually make more money that way and they make a sale in February 2019, rather than May/June.

That's why it seems to be a risky time for BMD but without any real information direct from the company's managers, who knows what is going on.

I think there are reasons for the halt (or slow down) some people aren't considering.Most common are mentions of a component shortage or a faulty component.

Keep in mind there are issues around tooling or re-tolling or revamping the production line which could require a halt or slow down. Also, they may be working on improving Quality Control because too many returns are impacting what may be very low margins.

Just to be clear the above does not mean a part shortage or a fundamentally flawed component. It's just that in order to improve production flow and better QC, they need to take some manufacturing offline. It may mean changes to QC to catch the occasional problem cameras before they ship. And Sometimes it means testing any changes in production protocols before ramping back up.

Craig Seeman wrote:I think there are reasons for the halt (or slow down) some people aren't considering.Most common are mentions of a component shortage or a faulty component.

Keep in mind there are issues around tooling or re-tolling or revamping the production line which could require a halt or slow down. Also, they may be working on improving Quality Control because too many returns are impacting what may be very low margins.

Just to be clear the above does not mean a part shortage or a fundamentally flawed component. It's just that in order to improve production flow and better QC, they need to take some manufacturing offline. It may mean changes to QC to catch the occasional problem cameras before they ship. And Sometimes it means testing any changes in production protocols before ramping back up.

They shipped thousands of cameras and only heard a couple of people returning their camera for repair. If it was something to worry about they would tell us. Production is not haunting it’s just so many orders.

Craig Seeman wrote:I think there are reasons for the halt (or slow down) some people aren't considering.Most common are mentions of a component shortage or a faulty component.

Keep in mind there are issues around tooling or re-tolling or revamping the production line which could require a halt or slow down. Also, they may be working on improving Quality Control because too many returns are impacting what may be very low margins.

Just to be clear the above does not mean a part shortage or a fundamentally flawed component. It's just that in order to improve production flow and better QC, they need to take some manufacturing offline. It may mean changes to QC to catch the occasional problem cameras before they ship. And Sometimes it means testing any changes in production protocols before ramping back up.

They shipped thousands of cameras and only heard a couple of people returning their camera for repair. If it was something to worry about they would tell us. Production is not haunting it’s just so many orders.

I've watched as much as I can on the camera on YouTube and many have had to return theirs almost straight after receiving them.

Craig Seeman wrote:I think there are reasons for the halt (or slow down) some people aren't considering.Most common are mentions of a component shortage or a faulty component.

Keep in mind there are issues around tooling or re-tolling or revamping the production line which could require a halt or slow down. Also, they may be working on improving Quality Control because too many returns are impacting what may be very low margins.

Just to be clear the above does not mean a part shortage or a fundamentally flawed component. It's just that in order to improve production flow and better QC, they need to take some manufacturing offline. It may mean changes to QC to catch the occasional problem cameras before they ship. And Sometimes it means testing any changes in production protocols before ramping back up.

They shipped thousands of cameras and only heard a couple of people returning their camera for repair. If it was something to worry about they would tell us. Production is not haunting it’s just so many orders.

I've watched as much as I can on the camera on YouTube and many have had to return theirs almost straight after receiving them.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

I did too, and the only person I can remember returning theirs was potato jet, everyone else complained about the battery life, tilting screen, and some the ssd not recognizing

So many complain about those things.. the battery is tiny. Really what BM should have said is... for short stints the battery is fine, but a better use is to ensure uninterruptible use while you use other battery options. When Dimitry gets his 18650 unit out, for example, or other small/lighter battery options, the battery in the camera allows you to run a good 30 minutes or so while you swap bigger batteries. So you can go all day, without stopping recording should you need because they built in the ability for the camera to use the LPE6 should the DC battery not provide enough juice. Beautiful.

The SSD, well apparently that is fixed now, so thats not an issue any more.

The tilt screen.. dang.. ok.. I can see that I guess, but me personally, I am looking to add a monitor anyway, bigger one if possible. I want to find a good light but big 9" or bigger monitor. The bigger problem is that the 2x zoom doesnt seem to reflect on external monitors, so I still have to 2x zoom then focus on the little 5" monitor. So my 7" is useless for focusing because I cant see the 2x zoom when I try to do that.

I've watched a lot of Youtube videos too.Firstly, most of these people are vloggers. They aren't working with cameras, they are demoing and reviewing cameras. That's the extent of their Pocket 4K experience....shooting a demo and reviewing it.The vast majority of them are returning the camera anyway, but often they give an excuse about it's core design - the small battery, the non-tilting screen. Not many (if any?) are returning a faulty camera.CVP (UK dealer) must have shipped about 500 Pocket 4K's by now. If even 50 had been returned faulty we would have known about it.

I got mine in the first batch from B&H. It's been fine, zero issues. The iso and wb buttons are really difficult to press and I think it's an assembly problem. But I can live with it and just use the touch screen.

It's an amazing little camera. I easily would have paid 3k for this thing, it's an amazing value.

Colourberry wrote:FYI my 2 cents. I'm in Australia (home of Blackmagic as you know) I've had my preorder since october with Dragon Image and I was position 6 then and I'm still position 6. They say they have received no cameras and thats coming up to 5 months.

First, Blackmagic don't distribute the cameras in Australia.

They are distributed by New Magic, an independent and entirely different company. That aren't Blackmagic.

So it goes like this.

You place an order with Dragon Image.

Dragon Image place an order with New Magic...at some point....

New Magic place an order with Blackmagic (likely not even in Australia) at some point....

You are position 6 with Dragon Image, but what position in the que are Dragon image with New Magic ?

What position are New Magic in the que with Blackmagic globally ?

This is why you can't take your position with a local reseller as being your position in the que. You don't know what is going on at the next two levels above you and you have no way of finding out.

This is why some smaller dealers get a few cameras seemingly earlier than bigger dealers.

And Blackmagic certainly aren't parochial about nationality. They are first come first serve. You'll never hear about it, but I've seen some VERY big hollywood names try and jump the que with cameras in short demand and they're strict about going through dealers.... first come first served (to their model).

Now that doesn't hold true by the time it goes through two more levels of distribution to you, but that is the model they have because they don't direct distribute.

Frustrating, and honestly, this happens every single time they have an in-demand release, back to their first camera. For some reason the UK seem to feel it worst and almost always those guys are the ones making the most complaints.

This is really helpful information. The problem we have in the uk at the moment is dealers have stopped receiving cameras and they are understandably frustrated by us lot emailing for updates. They are not having any communication from BM or the distributor as to why shipments have stopped which is making it impossible to give customers any indication of when we might get them.

John Brawley wrote:

Colourberry wrote:FYI my 2 cents. I'm in Australia (home of Blackmagic as you know) I've had my preorder since october with Dragon Image and I was position 6 then and I'm still position 6. They say they have received no cameras and thats coming up to 5 months.

First, Blackmagic don't distribute the cameras in Australia.

They are distributed by New Magic, an independent and entirely different company. That aren't Blackmagic.

So it goes like this.

You place an order with Dragon Image.

Dragon Image place an order with New Magic...at some point....

New Magic place an order with Blackmagic (likely not even in Australia) at some point....

You are position 6 with Dragon Image, but what position in the que are Dragon image with New Magic ?

What position are New Magic in the que with Blackmagic globally ?

This is why you can't take your position with a local reseller as being your position in the que. You don't know what is going on at the next two levels above you and you have no way of finding out.

This is why some smaller dealers get a few cameras seemingly earlier than bigger dealers.

And Blackmagic certainly aren't parochial about nationality. They are first come first serve. You'll never hear about it, but I've seen some VERY big hollywood names try and jump the que with cameras in short demand and they're strict about going through dealers.... first come first served (to their model).

Now that doesn't hold true by the time it goes through two more levels of distribution to you, but that is the model they have because they don't direct distribute.

Frustrating, and honestly, this happens every single time they have an in-demand release, back to their first camera. For some reason the UK seem to feel it worst and almost always those guys are the ones making the most complaints.

Chris Whitten wrote:CVP (UK dealer) must have shipped about 500 Pocket 4K's by now. If even 50 had been returned faulty we would have known about it.

Not even close. CVP have only just reached 200 units in total. I ordered on 22nd April and was 350-400th in their queue. They email me once a month with the latest figures, the 200 is from a couple of week's ago.

I also have a camera on order with another UK supplier. Both CVP and the other company have confirmed to me personally that they haven't received any stock for a month. I have seen posts on Facebook groups from people waiting for orders to be fulfilled by other retailers that confirms at least a UK wide hiatus.

Time and again these dealers are saying that BM distributors are telling them there's a problem. I find it very hard to believe the "it's just the random nature of BM's supply model" argument that keeps being rolled out.

Jim, with that kind of endorsement of the BMPCC4K, and the addition of BRAW, given its price point, it would seem the BMPCC4K will continue to experience heavy demand for another year or two.

Will be kind of funny if this thread is still popular a year down the road with people speculating why it’s taken them 6 months to get the camera! By then BMD may even have a BMPCC4K2 with SDI and better audio to make thousands more people frustrated with the wait.

Pete Tomkies wrote:Not even close. CVP have only just reached 200 units in total. I ordered on 22nd April and was 350-400th in their queue. They email me once a month with the latest figures, the 200 is from a couple of week's ago.

And ProAV..,.and Wex....How many out of the 200 from CVP have been returned with a fault?You don't know, I don't know. So the whole point is just guess work.I ordered within 24 hours of the announcement, and received my Pocket 4k about six weeks ago. So the fact you ordered two weeks after me, and still haven't received your camera is not that shocking, or suspicious.

I wasn't making any comment on the level of returns, just correcting your assertion that CVP had received 500 orders when in fact the number is considerably less than half that figure.

Irrespective of the quantities all of the UK retailers had been receiving regular stock on a weekly basis - but that drip feed has dried up across the UK. I don't know why but I am sure BM do. Sadly whilever they remain silent rumours will fester which must affect sales as some customers jump ship to rival brands.

Either BM are so arrogantly confident that demand will remain high they don't care about the bad press... Or the truth would be even more damaging. Either way it's awful PR and does their reputation no good.